I come from down in the valley, where mister when you're youngThey bring you up to do like your daddy doneMe and Mary we met in high school, when she was just seventeenWe'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river, and into the river we'd dive Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant, and man that was all she wroteAnd for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coatWe went down to the courthouse, and the judge put it all to restNo wedding day smiles no walk down in the aisle, no flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river, and into the river we'd dive Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown CompanyBut lately there ain't been much work on account of the economyNow all them things that seemed so importantWell mister they vanished right into the airNow I just act like I don't remember, Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's carHer body tan and wet down at the reservoirAt night on them banks I'd lie awakeAnd pull her close just to feel each breath she'd takeNow those memories come back to haunt me, They haunt me like a curseIs a dream a lie if it don't come true, Or is it something worse

That sends me down to the river though I know the river is dry, That sends me down to the river tonight Down to the river, My baby and I, Oh down the river we'd ride oh oh oh oh...........